Richard Peters (Aka Son of Wulf) says :-> ..........several things about rowing ships and wind direction
Most of this I disagree with. There is no reason why rowed ships are not
possible in the game, they will just force everyone to develop and maintain
an even larger faction than before. I had previously suggested to Rich
that every ship should require a minimum number of sailors dependant on the
size of the ship and he luckily rejected the idea as getting too monolithic.

>This also brings up the idea of another skill class being Mariner. This>skill would be primarily a ocean based skill but if coupled with Builder>would give rise to the enhance production of ships.
This makes sense. I also suggested this to Rich a while ago, but it died a
natural death. Every ship should be manned (personned ??) by a captain and
crew. Without them the ship would quickly run aground, break up, or sink.

>Possible Mariner skills would be> Repair Ship> Shipbuilding
Yes possibly, but both of these are already in the current shipbuilding
skill and there is no reason why Shipbuilding and Mariner can't remain separate.

> Weather forcast> Harpoon Whales (similar to capture horses)> Capture seabeasts (similar to wild animals)> Scan Horizon (would need a telescope and would be able to see ships> in adjoining sea areas)
These are all reasonable and possibly useful (although what do you do with
a captured sea-serpent ??)

> Capture Ships
This is really only the current Attack - Capture and is hopefully
implemented as such.
extra ones
Sail ships - necessary for all ships that require a trained crew.
without it, the ship is at risk and is likely to run
aground before leaving harbour, with approriate damage.
Captain Ship - Every ship needs a captain. This is a mix of
Leadership and seamanship and would be a high level skill.
Navigate ship - SHips should be able to be lost at sea. Without a
suitable navigator, ships could head SE or NE instead of
East etc.